Dear Praying Friends, December 5, 2012
“Enter into his gates
with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and
bless his name.” (Psalm 100:4) We
truly have so much for which to be thankful.
I know that November is not the only month that should reflect our
gratitude; however, I must admit that this November gave us a lot to be
thankful for! Where oh where do I begin
?
Thankful for our
church! God
has blessed us with an amazing ministry in the heart of Chorrillos! The way that our church has grown can only be
contributed to God. In all honesty (I
dread even saying this), we have not tried to accelerate the growth of our
church. We have not promoted or had any type of campaign, simply because we do
not have the space to accommodate the growth.
We go soul winning, follow up on our visitors, and hold 8 different
Bible studies each week. But God has given us a great group of people! Just
this past Sunday, we had our 2 highest attendances to date: 109 in the morning
and 93 that night! God is so good!
Thankful for our people! That is what the church
truly is! As thankful as I am for the
numerical growth of our people, I am even more thankful for their spiritual
growth. We have seen so many miracles in
the lives of our people. As Cecilia went
soul winning with my wife this past week, we both realized that incredible
desire she has to serve God and reach her family. Yanira is a new teenager who
has humbled both of us with her sweet spirit. She, too, has a desire to grow
and has helped us lead many of her family to Christ.
Another
family we have seen great growth in is Julio and Veronique. Several weeks ago they were able to set their
reservations aside and follow the Lord in baptism. It was a great day! Every Saturday night I
have a Bible study at their house. I started
the 10-week study with them 15 weeks ago (you do the math)! They can’t get
enough. Lord willing, they will be
helping me start another Bible study this month.
Thankful for opportunities! God
has given us some great opportunities to make a difference in our area. As already stated,
we have 8 in-home Bible studies occurring every week. These Bible studies are averaging 68 people
every week. Between 14 and 20 of these
are people who do not even attend our church!
In addition to this, I am glad that soul winning still works! This last month a total of 31 trusted Christ
as a result of soul winning. An
additional 32 people were saved through outreach and services, and a total of 6
were baptized.
The
greatest opportunity for which I am thankful is the opportunity to be
used. Two weeks ago Jessica and I
reflected on that opportunity. It is
hard to believe that one year ago, we were both in the hospital and not sure if we would have this
opportunity. But God is the great
physician, and I am so amazed by His healing and the way He has worked in our
lives. God is so good to use us!
Thankful for answered
prayers! I am grateful for a God Who
hears and answers our prayers. We have
had so many prayers answered, but one prayer in particular has been prayed for
by many of you. The Wednesday after Thanksgiving, our container was released,
and all of our personal and ministry items were delivered to our home. This was
a great day! Thank you to each and every
one of you who prayed. God blessed
miraculously, not only in giving us our stuff but also in the amount of taxes
we payed. We serve an awesome God!
Thankful for our team! Every day I am able to
rejoice in the great group of people God has called to work alongside us here
in Peru. Especially during this holiday season while family is far away, it is
a blessing to have a group of people with whom we can celebrate. We had a grand
Thanksgiving dinner with the members of our team and several of our church
people! I could not imagine this
ministry without the families God has brought together as Team Peru!
Thankful for you! Every day we feel the love
and prayers of each of you. Thank you to
each and every one of you who make this ministry what it is. Thank you also to the Antioch Baptist Church
in Michigan who voted to take us on for support this past month. I believe with all my heart that we will
reach Peru through Chorrillos; thank you for sharing in our burden.
Your
ambassadors to Peru,
Junior
and Jessica Martin
Romans
9:3
